Holiday Slowdown By Paramedics Fails To Materialize At Hospitals

Chicago area hospital emergency rooms were reporting business as usual over the weekend despite a threatened slowdown among Chicago Fire Department paramedics.

The threat came in the form of an unsigned memo posted in some area firehouses Thursday that called for the city's 58 ambulance crews to strictly follow time-consuming, potentially disruptive work rules as part of a "Memorial Day Weekend Quality Assurance Program."

The memo was issued in apparent response to a paramedics' representative being removed from a team of Chicago Fire Department union negotiators bargaining with the city for a new contract.

City officials warned that a slowdown would be greeted with punishment, but as of Sunday evening, hospitals and the Fire Department were reporting no disruptions in emergency services.

"We had five traumas come in last night, and they all came in within the right time frame," Illinois Masonic Medical Center nursing supervisor Sheila Mischke said Sunday.

"Everything has been going great for us, no problem," concurred Mt. Sinai Hospital administrative supervisor Betty Gammon. "I've had no complaints from the emergency room or anything else."

The other paramedic said the memo was not posted in his firehouse, and he did not know who was responsible for it. "There's rabble rousers in any workplace," he said, "so it can be somebody you think it might be, but you wouldn't want to pin it on anybody if you're not sure."

He added, "Nobody ever made a phone call to me. The first I heard of it was somebody from the hospital saying, `Did you hear on the radio . . .?' "

Dan Fabrizio, president of Firefighters Union Local 2, Thursday dubbed the memo a "renegade act" by "radicals" in the union. The union includes 600 paramedics and 4,000 firefighters.

Paramedics have complained that they are underrepresented in the union, not given enough respect by firefighters and underfunded in terms of staffing and equipment, with 58 ambulances responding to more than 250,000 emergency calls each year.

Union representatives could not be reached for comment Sunday, but Fire Department officials said Friday that union negotiators were leaving the door open to reinstating the paramedic representative.